OUR TEAM

DIRECTOR

Alastair Miles – Director

Alastair was born in 1969 in Methven, a small town in the foothills of Mount Hutt where he grew up and completed his secondary education. It was also where he developed his love of sports and music, with some notable achievements in both.

Alastair’s school references suggest him to have been academically capable, well liked and respected by both his peers and teachers. Alastair’s ability to get on with different people is a personality trait he carries to this day.

After a 12 months working for Industrial Holdings as a Quantity Surveying Cadet, Alastair studied for and obtained NZC in Quantity Surveying.

He subsequently obtained a Diploma in Quantity Surveying (today’s degree equivalent) through part-time distance learning study whilst working full-time as Quantity Surveyor/Project Manager for Alan Bateman & Associates and later on for Style Homes in Christchurch where he gained valuable building and project management experience and quickly developed a reputation as a capable, responsible employee with high work ethics.

In 1995, after five months of travelling Alastair started work in London for John Rowan & Partners where he was quickly trusted to a number of high profile projects and tasks including leading teams of up to 16 members delivering various multiple (up to 200 stores) commercial refits and refurbishments in often very short periods of time (four to eight months).

Amongst Alastair’s notable achievements at John Rowan & Partners are the development of the company’s project management arm and the enhancement of company’s internal management system. In 1999, following an outstanding track record with the company, Alastair was made a partner and worked in his capacity as the partner in charge of Project Management until leaving in 2003.

In 2002, Alastair married his Persian girlfriend and in September 2003, having taken some time off to enjoy his new-born son Oliver, the young family were back in New Zealand where Alastair worked for Paban Consulting Limited as a project manager in charge of various projects including a $1.5m executive home and shortly afterwards for Canterbury District Health Board where he was brought into the existing project management team responsible for building the new $80m Christchurch Women’s Hospital and the relocation of the staff and patients.

In June of 2005, shortly after the completion of the hospital, Alastair was offered the General Manager role in an established housing company. Alastair stayed with the company for 16 months during which time he streamlined on-site performance and productivity, improved customer satisfaction and increased sales by 20%.

Alastair left in November 2006 to form his own company, Miles Construction.

Simon Davis – Sales Manager

Simon is a true Cantabrian – Canterbury is his home! After completing his education at Christchurch Boy’s High School and two years at Canterbury and Lincoln universities he decided his passion was for Sales & Marketing. Simon has worked in Sales & Marketing all of his life.

For the first 20 years of his working life he worked in the flooring industry and helped grow a very well-known furnishing company to be one of the largest companies in the South Island. He became the face of the company in all of their marketing and is well known for the tag line ‘We’ll make your house a home’. For the next fourteen years he was the Marketing & Sales Manager for a large building company in Christchurch. His knowledge in design and building of residential new homes is second to none. He describes his style as being very conservative as he knows after being in the industry for so long how important it is to get the detail right for his clients “I believe in crossing the T’s and dotting the I’s for all of my clients, there are no grey areas”.
His decision to join Miles Construction was exciting news for both parties at the time and after two years his wealth of knowledge in the building industry has added to the already strong reputation Miles Construction has in the Canterbury building industry.

Mark Farrell – General Manager

Mark has been in the construction industry for 15 plus years. He is known for his excellent managerial skills, leadership approach, decision making qualities and directive nature.

His career to date has focused on the commercial aspects of construction and development and over the last 10 years his roles have involved creating successful teams and providing them with robust leadership. His previous role as the Commercial Manager and General Manager Christchurch for a large Construction Company saw Mark having a major focus on providing and driving the strategic direction of the National and Regional business.
When not in work mode, Mark is a family man. He and his wife Penny have two children, a boy and a girl. Mark spends most Saturday’s mountain biking with the kids or his mates. He enjoys the normal family things that Christchurch has to offer including mountain biking, great walks, parks, movies and restaurants.

Qualifications / Affiliations / Memberships

Bachelor of Commerce, VPM

Site Safe Passport

Member of the NZIQS

Member of the Institute of Directors

Ben Travers – Project Manager, Auckland

Ben is a Chartered Quantity Surveyor with Project Management experience having worked internationally in both New Zealand and the UK. Ben’s role includes the day to day management of the Auckland branch, client liaison, project co-ordination, quantity surveying, and contract administration.

Ben demonstrates a strong understanding and ability to manage all key stakeholders within the project environment, as well as controlling risk management and project financials from the conception phase through to project completion. Ben also has a good understanding of the development process from start to finish.

Ben has worked extensively within private consultancies and for building contractors on government developments projects, private residential and commercial projects so has a good understanding of what is important to each party and the importance of building trusted and long term partnerships.

Bens notable work experience involves the delivery of a number of social housing projects in Auckland, High end fit outs and seismic upgrades for multiple high end clients, the reconstruction and refurbishment in Christchurch following the series of major earthquakes as well as major contracts across social housing in London. Ben also spent twelve months working on the 2012 London Olympic Site including involvement in major demolition and ground level infrastructure, and previous to this working on large projects on prestigious buildings for the University of Cambridge.

Ben has a keen passion for sport and has competed at high levels in Cricket and Football and is still playing a good social level of Football. Other interests include golf, skiing, trekking, reading, live music and films. Travel is also a passion, as well as New Zealand Ben has travelled to South & Central America, Asia and Europe as well as spending eight weeks living in an African community volunteering on the construction of a school in Tanzania. These experiences gave the opportunity to work cross-culturally and overcome cultural barriers through problem solving and honing of interpersonal and communication skills.